Asperger Syndrome Support Group
Asperger syndrome - also referred to as Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's, Aspergers or just AS - is one of five neurobiological pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), and is characterized by deficiencies in social and communication skills, normal to above normal intelligence, and standard language development.
I think I've noticed something about this: I've seen interviews of people like Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and...a certain other person from my experiences, and it appears that the eyes never change. Its always that blank, lifeless, dead stare. Like a doll's eyes, or a shark's eyes. Even when they're trying to mimic emotion, or goofing around; the face changes, and the eyes may move differently, but they're always the same.
I can't really quantify or describe this empirical terms, its just come to the realization of either immediately, or over time.
This "flat affect" involving a stereotypically alleged stare seems different in people with AS, and perhaps even Schizophrenic disorders, but I can only speak for AS, having looked at myself in the mirror, and seen other aspies talk: yes, they (we) seem to stare off aimlessly at times, or seem to be looking at nothing despite the fact that we're looking right at a person (this is is, of course, when we actually do make eye-contact, which I usually do not--more like quick glimpses which last maybe 2 seconds at the most) but our eyes are full of life. Interest (even if that interest isn't exactly coming out at the time). Potential. There's something behind our eyes.
To sum it up, the aspie "stare" is awkward, aloof, quirky. The Sociopath stare is scary. The AS "stare" says "I'd really rather be doing something else, but I might be curious about you, I hope you say or do something I like so I can talk to you", the sociopath stare says "I don't like people, I don't like anything. Either entertain me or get effed". It says "Feed me".
I bring this up because there are a lot of Sociopaths who actively pose as aspies, and probably a lot of Hypochondria-sinpired attention whores with sociopathic tendencies who dissociate to the point of beleiving that they have AS instead of something more approproate (such as BPD, HPD, or NPD, or all three) If you got to "Sociopathworld" you'll find that aspies come up a lot in their conversations.
I can't really quantify or describe this empirical terms, its just come to the realization of either immediately, or over time.
This "flat affect" involving a stereotypically alleged stare seems different in people with AS, and perhaps even Schizophrenic disorders, but I can only speak for AS, having looked at myself in the mirror, and seen other aspies talk: yes, they (we) seem to stare off aimlessly at times, or seem to be looking at nothing despite the fact that we're looking right at a person (this is is, of course, when we actually do make eye-contact, which I usually do not--more like quick glimpses which last maybe 2 seconds at the most) but our eyes are full of life. Interest (even if that interest isn't exactly coming out at the time). Potential. There's something behind our eyes.
To sum it up, the aspie "stare" is awkward, aloof, quirky. The Sociopath stare is scary. The AS "stare" says "I'd really rather be doing something else, but I might be curious about you, I hope you say or do something I like so I can talk to you", the sociopath stare says "I don't like people, I don't like anything. Either entertain me or get effed". It says "Feed me".
I bring this up because there are a lot of Sociopaths who actively pose as aspies, and probably a lot of Hypochondria-sinpired attention whores with sociopathic tendencies who dissociate to the point of beleiving that they have AS instead of something more approproate (such as BPD, HPD, or NPD, or all three) If you got to "Sociopathworld" you'll find that aspies come up a lot in their conversations.
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I find myself going places in the car and not wanting to get out of the car. I come back home and I don't want to get out of the car. I think it's the only time I spend reflecting. Chronic tiredness from Long Covid plus the immunosupressing meds for my Crohn's is slowing me down but everything just seems a massive effort. I am dealing with the paperwork following my father's death but it's not...
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Wow, it's the middle of the week already!Today is our 11 year anniversary, so we're going out to a nice dinner. I'm losing a lot of sleep these days, hence a wonky schedule and uncomfortable feelings. But I know it will pass, eventually.I hope all of you have a peaceful day, and may good things come your way!
I also tend to stare at people or things, and have done so all my life, before I got Graves' Disease, and Graves' Ophthalmopathy, aka "Thyroid Eye Disease" or TED.
I have also had double vision, at least since I was a teenager, and I have heard that it could be a consequence of Autism. I could see how it can tire out the eyes to be staring too much, and when I first noticed the double vision it was when my eyes were overly tired.
I remember my mother specifically instructing me to look at people in the eyes, and I tried to do what my mom said.
I also was interested in drawing people and I would look at them intently to memorize how they looked so I could draw pictures of them later.
There is also an interesting article in the May 2013 Discover magazine regarding autism. There was a little "test" showing pictures of eyes and we were supposed to see if we could tell what emotion or thoughts the person had whose eyes looked the way they did. I couldn't tell what emotions they had, and they all just looked normal--except one of them looked scared or like a psychopath.
Most of us to some degree are sociophobic.
One minor indicator could be as innocuous as your photo avatar. ;)
I don't agree. Social phobia is about fear of judgerment. At it's root sociopathy has a lack of empathy for others. The two don't map.
I'd like to think so, too, but there are similarities, I'm afraid, such as the difficulty with empathy, learning disabilities, and possibly this "stare" I brought up.
"AS is a fertile ground for sociopathological manifestations" - I don't agree with this at all. There are many factors for "sociopathological manifestations" and I don't think AS is more of a factor than anything else. Some media organizations tried to portray this also after the school shooting and many people were justifiably upset by this.
We don't need to further this kind of harmful thinking. It only hurts people with ASD - of which the overwhelming majority is not sociopathic in any way.